Kordermamet23 RXmas--which I have heard pronounced as R Christmas--is an intriguing entry in Ferrara's career. I have to admit, I much prefer the hyperslick megaviolent insanity of King of New York and the scuzzy Method Acting delirium of movies like Bad Lieutenant, Dangerous Game, and The Funeral, and the drab experimentalism of New Rose Hotel and The Addiction to this exercise in extreme realism. But I admired and respected the achievement. Drea Dematteo is very powerful, very vulnerable, very real. Her desire to rescue her husband from the clutches of mysterious kidnappers is fascinating to watch. Ice-T, who gets so little respect as an actor and has been condemned these days to Law and Order spinoffs and Leprachaun sequels, is tight, mean, scary, and inspirational. Lillo Brancato gives a very truthful performance as the husband. He doesn't play it as a moronic machofried action hero: he's just a dad, a workaday stiff, trying to provide for his family in the best way he knows how. RXmas is seemingly the beginning of a new cycle of films, presumably dealing with New York City and the business of drug dealing. Somehow, I doubt this new cycle will ever be brought to fruition. RXmas was yet another megaflop/now you see it now you don'ter from Ferrara. Too bad. American cinema could use some more of his scuzz, his hyperslick insanity, his quotidian realism. I have this theory that most people who see his movies think he's European (Italian, possibly French). He is, however, one of the great American filmmakers. Hopefully, more of this cycle will be revealed.

deafskorpianking possible spoiler.... i thought this was a great movie and i wasn't surprised that this was a true story. it's about a family who are drug dealers at night but during the day they seem to be normal loving parents. the plot is somewhat thin but that don't really matter in this movie, it just tends to be boring at one point or another. a few people kidnap the father and the wife go frantic but she especially is very surprised when she findz out who the kidnappers are. so was i, i never expected them to be that kind of people. it's a twist. :)

joelholio The whole movie seemed to suffer from poor editing - every scene seemed to take forever to unfold and when they did, I felt like I had waited a long time for very little to happen. I guess I missed the whole point of the movie - either that or there wasn't one.

chas77 I don't know what has happened to director Abel Ferrara. Ever since the "Body Snatchers" remake he seems to have lost it. "King of New York" and "The Bad Lieutenant" remain two of the best films of the '90s: searing indictments of a decade gone wrong. With films like "'R Xmas" (whatever that means) and "New Rose Hotel" he seems determined to disgust and bore his former supporters. This film has NO LIFE in it. While he gets excellent performances out of his actors in all of his projects the result of this mishmash of ideas just doesn't jell. Whatever the point is -- that the new breed of drug dealer is more or less the same as any other upper middle class New Yawkuh -- gets lost in the mind numbing script and boring direction. I saw this opening night at the 4-Plex in downtown L.A. In the lobby, while buying tickets, I was surprised and delighted to see it filled with a large, racially mixed group of men and women in their twenties and thirties. Then they started into the theater but it was the theater that was featuring "8 Mile" not "'R Xmas"! The theater showing "'R Xmas" (keep in mind, this was opening night!) had a total of 4 people watching it, myself, my wife and two others! Way to go, Abel!2/10